Sunday, February 8, 2015

Religion, Euthanasia and the Dilemma of My Dad's Own Death

The recent ruling by
Canada'sSupreme Court permitting physician-assisted suicidereminds me of columns I have written that touch on the subject of
death and dying. They include this one, written in 2013 about religious views of physician-assisted suicide—and the decision I faced as my own father faced death.

When
it comes to physician-assisted suicide, it doesn’t matter what religion you
are, the answer is pretty much the same.

It
isn’t permitted.

The Roman Catholic Church, Protestants of many kinds, Muslim,
Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and others all agree that life is sacred, and nobody
should assist it to end.

Christians and Jews often refer to Deuteronomy
30:19-20 to bolster the case:

"I
have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore
choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD
your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your
life, and the length of your days."

Today, however, a majority of Canadians
disagree—something that the Supreme Court recognized.

A poll conducted by the Environics Institute in two years ago found thatthat almost 70 percent of Canadians are
in favour of euthanasia generally, and that68
percent say those who help seriously ill people to commit suicide should not be
charged with a crime.

The poll found majority support for
euthanasia among every age group and in every region of Canada .

The highest support was found in Quebec
and B.C., at 79 percent. The lowest, at 62 percent, was found in Manitoba
and Saskatchewan .

The poll also found that older Canadians
were more likely to support the practice than younger people—not surprising,
since older people are closer to the time when that kind of decision needs to
be made.

If we’re honest, most of us are conflicted on the issue.

We
believe life should be preserved and supported, but we don't want to see loved
ones suffer—or contemplate our own suffering as we grow older.
We wonder if helping someone pass from this life to the next isn’t a
caring response.

Four years ago, I had to deal with this dilemma on behalf of my
father.

A day before I arrived at his bedside in his nursing home in Ontario,
he had slipped into a coma after a short illness. Nothing moved except for his
chest, which heaved laboriously as he tried to breathe.

Medical
staff at the facility asked if I would be OK with them giving him doses of
morphine to ease his suffering. I readily consented to the request.

And
who wouldn’t? It hurt to see him in such distress, especially since there was
no hope of his ever wakening.

After
receiving the morphine, his breathing grew easier. He settled down. He seemed
at peace.

I
was glad for him. But in my heart I knew—as I’m sure the medical staff
knew—what was really at play here: We were assisting my dad to die.

The
next morning, he slipped quietly and peacefully away while I held his hand
and cradled his head.

Before he died, my dad had often expressed the wish for his life to
be over. He
wasn't suffering, but at the age of 86 he had lost interest in living.

A widower, he was lonely, tired, often
sick, required the use of a wheelchair, could no longer enjoy his books, had
trouble swallowing, and sometimes was in pain.

He was ready to die; every night, he told me, he prayed that
he would not wake up in the morning.

Some would say I assisted him to die. Others would say that I only
helped to ease his suffering—death was a byproduct.

Whatever
the answer, the line between the two is thin and fuzzy for me.

I think it probably the same for many others,
too.

Click here to read a collection of reflections in the Winnipeg Free Press about how the Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu religions view the issue of physician-assisted suicide.Click here to read my earlier post on this topic: Growing Old and Praying to Die.